Apparatus for extracting petroleum from shale and other minerals



5 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORN Ey Jan, 13, 1925.

G. A. TAF F yAPPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING PETRLEUM FROM SHALE AND OTHERMINERALS Filed Feb.' 14, 1921 m., m .n W

Jan, 13, 1925. 1,522,985

G. A. TAFF APPARATUS PQRl EXTRACTING PETROLEUM PROM sHALE AND OTHERMINERALS Filed Feb. 14, 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 1o ,Y j E Yrc "f "l 14m; i

, g 5 5 2i 22 Q s l l l WITN EssEs "9 ---J` /NVEN TOR Jan. 13, 1925.

G. A. TAF F E EXTRACTING PETROLEUM FROM SHALE AND OTHER M'NERALSAPPARATUS' Filed Feb. 14 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Lw J Jf/,// //A v, o kd\|-8, 2 Y \.|||Y. V, O 5

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WITNESSES ATTQRNEY Patented Jan; 13, 19.25.y A

UNITED STATES GEORGE A. TAFF, F COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO. l

Parri-:NT4 OFFICE.

Arranarus Foa Exrnac'rme PETROLEUM Enom SELLE AND ofrHEn. MINERALS.

applicati@ mea February 14,'1921. serial No. 444,938.

` To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. TAEF, a

' citizen of the United States, and resident of Colorado Springs,iin.thecounty o'El Paso and State of Colorado, have invented new and usefulVImprovements inApparatus for Ertracting Petroleum from Shale and OtherMinerals, of which the following is a description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, which area part of thisl specification.

The inventlon rela-tes to apparatus for eX- tracting thevolatileconstituents,including hydrocarbons, shale.

Formerly it has been the practice to roast a mass of the crushed oilshale in a Aretort to from' oil bearing rock or l drive olf theVvolatile constituents, including hydrocarbons, but such a method has'been `found. to be unsatisfactory when handling shales of the characterfound in thev western part-of our country, as the amount of petroleumextracted is small and generallyA of inferior quality. I have discoveredthat by agitating` the crushed shale while in a retort;A so that allgtheparticles of shale are constantly being exposed to the heated surfacesof the retort and by keeping up this agitation of the vshale during itspassage th'rough the retort a much greater yield of petroleum may beobtained from the rock.-

" than has heretofore been possible. Furthercarbo more, by employingsuch a method .the'pe` troleum cont t may be extracted from the shaleduring its rogress through the retort and large quantitiesthereofhandled in an e'cientmanner, thereby putting the manufacture oftroleum from oil shale upon a commercia y practicable basis. i

The `objectof the invention is to provide an apparatus for carrying mymethod into effect, in which theY raw oil shaleis intro'- duced into avheated retort and continually. agitated as it-is.. carriedtherethrough, the' volatile constituents, including the hydron,passingoif as =gas or vapor and -the residue being ejected from theretort after a suicient length of time tol accomplish .the

thorough decomposition of the raw' material. invention furtherconsistsin the ap v-palatus for extracting the petroleum contento'fjoil-be'aringrock as hereinafter set forth and more particularly denedjby I -claix'nsat the conclusion hereof.l

' Inthe drawings: Fig. 1 a vertical tional Eview through an apparatusembodyv I X l 'fractory material, the endportions of the 4retort'beingsupported upon the walls-and I vhereinafter described.`

21 in theretortand ,Y justable bearing platee i22 to' the 1 ing theinvention and for use carrying out the method; Fig. 2 is a detailsectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig;

3 is a detail side view of the retort; Fig. 4 60 is a section taken onthe line 4-4 of Fig, 1; Fig. 5is a detail plan view of the impeller;Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view of Fig. 5.

My method consists in heating the finely crushed oil-bearing rock whilethe same is i,

being agitated. More particularly the a i-J tation vof the Vmaterial isaccomplished y conveyinv it through a heated retort in a stream w ich isbeing constantly agitated to cause the material to be turned over andover durin the heating operation.

A retort extends lfor a greater ortion of its length within a combustionc amber 8 l enclosed by Walls .9 of firebrick orother reinterveningpiers of this brick structure and projecting beyond the same forpurposes The retort is here' shown inthe form of a rectangular cmbervdivided for the greater portion of its l gth by a centrallydisposed lower mullles 11. of. much lessheight than width and length vinorder to present a large .surface to th'e hot gases from -a furnace 12,

combustion chamber 10 into u per and L here shownas an oil tiredfurnace.'- The i sides of the retort 7 are provided with ledges 13-"and14 and brick bales 13' and 14 extending from the outer side walls 9 tothese ledges so that the combustion chamber is di-.. vided into a lowerconduit 15 an intermediate conduit 10 in' free communicationjwith ofvthe mailles 11 is'heated'by the hot gases cmlbed fthrough' the Spacearound'fthel l i k l. 5.

muies. Y f

Shafts 18 are mounted in the-'exposed end portions .of the retort andcarry sprockets- 19 over whchthechains 20 of an ess im Y er of the shaft18 adlacent the 'stack 1'1 through slots' sides of the-'exposed endportions of the ,retort over the slots 21. Each plate is provided with aplurality of slots 23 through which clamping bolts 24 pass and tensionscrews 25 secured to the plates and passing throughlugs 26 on the retortare provided with nuts 27 so that the plates with the shaft bearings maybe moved to adjust the tension of the mpeller chains. The impellerchains2O have a plurality of fiights 28 connected` tl1 eieto whlch serve tocarryl the shale through the muiies 11 and also keep turning it overduringI its passage therethrough. Y

1,5 Eaeh impeller iight consists of a rectangular frame 29 fittingwithin alined links of the chains and carrying scraper blades 30 whicha-re inclined from: the direction of travel with the end of adjacentblades -20 arranged in overlapping relation, the blades 30- shaftsor thelike. Thus, while the material is being moved throughthe miiies itsdirection is constantly changing and producing a thorough agitation andturning over1 of the materialso as to bring `all portions thereof intocontact with the heated surfaces of the retort, and the blades alsoprevvent the materialsticking to-or becoming 'lodged in the retort.

The nely crushed raw oil shale or oilbearing rock is introducedy into ahopper 31 and fed to a rotating selesealing measuring valvef32 providedwith radially disposed pockets 33 from which the'material isdischarged'into the entrance 34 of the \upper muiiie 11. A table 35 isprovided adjacent this entrance to prevent material' fallingthrough thisend of the retort and .cooperating with the impeller flights' as they`leave the sprockets at this end of the ma. 50 chine-to assist them instarting the material on its travel through Vthe retort. The ma.-A

- terial is carried by the impellers along the bottom of the uppermuliie and falls olf th rear end of said munie-and is then car- 55 riedalong. the bottom of the lower muiiie and finally, when the volatileconstituents have been driven off, the residue is ejected into adischarge hopper 36 having a rotating self-sealing discharge valve 37similar to the 5 valve 32. The volatile hydrocarbon constituents passfrom the retortthrough a similar manner by a driven chain 40 pass- .saidchamber and end portions lcommuni- `:tor conducting thelvolatileconstituents of vthe oil shale pipe 7 and' are subsequently treated toextract or separate the petroleum therefrom. Both the va ves 32 and 37are driven from any suitable source of power, as by a driven chain 38passing around the sprocket 39.. carried by each of the valves, only onebeing shown in detail, and-the shaft 18 at the entrance end of themachine is driven in a ing` around a sprocket 41 on said shaft.

rom the foregoing it will be noted that the raw rock .is kept in aconstant state of agitation during its p age thro h the retort and bythe time it reaches utile discharge end o the retort'it has been reFlieved of its volatile hydrocarbon constituents. The rate of rotation ofthe feed valve 32 and the speed of the impeller are preferably such asto maintain .a shallow moving bed of 'material upon the floor of themuiiles v 11. v

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An apparatus for extracting hydrocarbon constituents Afrom oil shaleor other minerals comprising a heating chamber, a j sealed retorthaving'separated upper and lower muiile portions extending through jeating with said muiiies exterior of said chamber, conveyor driveelements mountedl in said end rtions, one of said end portionsincludingl longitudinally adjustable plates supportin one of saidconveyor drive elements, an en ess agitating conveyor running over saidelements and through said muiies, means exterior of the retort foradjusting said plates to adjust the tension 'of the conveyor, means for'delivering the finely crushed oil shale or other mineral to one endl ofone of said muiiles, a discharge passage for the residue communicatingwith the same endof the other muiiie, and means or other mineral fromthe retort.

2. In an apparatus for extractinglhydrov carbon constituents from oilshale Kor other minerals comprising a retort hav-ing a muiiie, anagitating conveyor running through saidmuiiie' including spacedchains,.rectangular frames mounted in alined links of said chilins, andinclined a 'tator blades secured :to the sides of each ame andprojecting f below said frame. I 115 In testimony whereof, I aix mysignature, in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A, TAFE. Witnesses: v

O. H. Snom?, Jr., F. M. McMAnoN.

